On these blogs I have been introducing the reader to the wildlife we live amongst, which give us so much pleasure. Though it was not by design, I seem to have started with the largest (the black-tailed, or mule deer) and begun working my way down to smaller (Bewick's Wren), and now the smallest of all: the hummingbirds.
Most places where I have lived in this country there has only been one common species of hummingbird, which obviously makes identification easy, so there was no need to scrutinize each one we saw. But here in our yard we have four species to sort out: Broad-billed; Costa's; Anna's; and Black-chinned. Things are further complicated by the fact that each species comes in male and female forms, and in immature and mature forms. Let me start by describing the Broad-billed Hummingbird. All of the hummingbirds are handsome, but this one is the most gorgeous of all. I will start with the female, as they are generally the plainer, and work my way up to the almost impossibly beautiful adult male.
This female is green on the back, gray on the underside, and has a long, curving bill, which is partly red. The red shows this is a Broad-bill, it being the only species here with red on the bill. A black stripe with a white stripe on either side of it comes down from the eye.
The immature male looks rather like the female, but as he matures his underparts begin changing from dull gray to bright golden green, and as this happens dollops of iridescent blue begin to appear on his throat and upper breast.
As he continues maturing (i.e. moving towards the nuptial plumage with which he will attract a female for his one date with her before he goes off to attract the next female) his bill changes to bright red, his entire underparts change to bronze green and the blue moves up and coalesces on his throat.
Let's look at some more pictures of him.
On the next blog I'll discuss Costa's Hummingbird.
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